Tango Lessons
by kcl71
Summary: A missing scene from 1986, in which we learn exactly what happened when Anna Devane taught Duke Lavery how to dance the tango


Tango Lessons

1986, Duke's penthouse, late afternoon/early evening

Anna and Duke are elegantly sprawled on the floor at the base of his couch, the various sofa pillows scattered around and beneath them. Anna, in her green satin dressing robe, is half hidden by the tangle of her hair across her face. Duke drowses next to her in his own black robe, his head cradled on her outstretched arm. A radio plays soft jazz in the background.

Anna, breathlessly, "Ohmygod."

Duke, with a half smile but without opening his eyes, "That's a nice compliment."

Anna runs her hand through her hair, sweeping it off her face and back over her forehead. She stares at the ceiling. "Never in my life…."

Still listing toward sleep, Duke nuzzles closer to her and pecks her on the cheek. "There's a first time for everything, luv. I promise you, that won't be the last…."

It becomes apparent that Anna is a bit tipsy as, with a quick shake of her head, as if to clear it, she suddenly announces, "I need another drink." Holding the neck of her robe closed with one hand, she extricates herself from Duke and crosses to the cocktail table that's been hastily shoved to one side of the couch. "D'you want more champagne?"

Duke, sinking deeper into the pillows, in his own boozy haze: "No, I'm fine."

Anna picks up her champagne flute, sips from it, starts to head back to Duke, then doubles back and grabs the Cristal bottle, too. She settles herself back down amongst the pillows. Feeling chatty: "It's _so_ nice that we can spend all night here, just the two of us. We're lucky Robin's gone to a slumber party."

"What's a slumber party?"

"It's what little girls do. They do, well, anything but slumber, really. They tell ghost stories, giggle, play Truth or Dare."

Duke peeks up at her. "So can we have our own 'slumber party'?"

Anna laughs. "Yes, let's."

She suddenly raises her head, listening to the radio. "A tango! Oh, I love the tango." She clambers over him and stands, taking him by the hand and pulling at his arm. "Duke, let's dance."

"You go on." He shifts to his side to look up at her. "I'll…watch."

"No, you know what they say: It takes two. Come on, up with you." She continues tugging at his arm. "I'll teach you. C'mon. It'll be fun. Really, Duke."

With a tired but amused groan, "Oh, alright. Stubborn woman."

Anna giggles girlishly as Duke gets to his feet.

Once standing, he asks, "Alright, what now, then?"

She stands in front of him and clasps his left hand in her right. "Now, put your other arm 'round me." Duke plants his other hand, and Anna reaches behind her to remove it from her ass and place it 6 inches higher, at the small of her back. "Be serious."

"Oh, dancing. Very serious. Sorry," Duke responds wryly.

"Now step toward me with your left foot. LEFT foot! But land on your heel, not your toes. Now your right. Try again. Le-e-eft, ri-i-ight. Now both again, more quickly. Ow! That's _my_ foot!"

Duke grins sheepishly, "Sorry."

"Now try it _on_ the beat."

Within a very few minutes, Duke has caught on to both the walking step and the rock step. He leads Anna sinuously around the living room, between the sofa and the bar, then between the sofa and the window overlooking Port Charles Harbor. Anna takes the opportunity to show off for him, making some intricate steps in which she crosses her feet, one behind the other, her hips swaying rhythmically, and then a few more in which she weaves her legs between his, her thighs teasingly brushing against him.

"Well, you've succeeded, Anna Devane."

"I have? At what?"

"You've shown me some things I haven't had the pleasure of trying before."

"Is that what I'm doing?" she says indignantly, while the blush that creeps over her face confirms that he has her pegged exactly.

He lifts her hand to his lips and kisses it, reassuringly, peering at her with one eyebrow raised. "You know, from the first moment I saw you, I knew you were the only woman I'd ever want."

Anna, emboldened, takes his face in her hands and kisses him. Then she shows him one more new move, bending back over his right arm until her back is parallel to the floor.

When she rises and stands against him again, he looks down at her, bemused. Still dancing: "So where does a lovely English lass learn to do the tango, dare I ask?"

Anna grins at him. "Buenos Aires, of course."

"Oh, of course. WSB?"

"Mm-hm. '78, I think?"

" '78 in Buenos Aires? Don't tell me you saw the infamous Scotland–Netherlands World Cup match? My cousins lost more than 1,000 quid on that game. You'd never hear the end of it from them."

Laughing, Anna, sarcastic herself now, tells him, "No, nothing so momentous. I was only there to try to get information on the military junta."

Duke is suddenly serious. "With Robert?" he asks cautiously, storm clouds gathering in his voice.

Anna, indulgently: "No, not with _Robert_. Robert and I hadn't met yet, actually. It was my very first mission. Sean was still training me, really."

Duke brushes her hair away from her temple with his fingertips. "What I wouldn't give to have met 18-year-old Anna Devane.…"

Anna stiffens in his arms and breaks their gaze, looking down at their still gliding feet. "I wasn't very happy then…" she says guardedly. "I'd lost my parents…, my sister. I felt just…lost.…" As if to herself, "No wonder the DVX approached me. I was an easy mark, I s'pose. Just desperate to find my place in the world."

Duke is touched and surprised by her revelations. He starts to respond, "I…." Then stops, worried about cluing Anna in to his own secrets. "I…I can understand that."

Anna is still lost in her memories, and in the clear vision of her younger self that has come to her only now that she has spoken it aloud. Duke realizes, with relief, that she feels only trust—no suspicions, for once—this night. Moved, he puts his hand to her cheek, runs his index finger gently along her jaw line, lifts her chin until she's looking into his eyes, bringing her back to the present. "Have you found your place now, Anna? Are you content to spend your life here, with Robin and me?"

Very seriously, but with the pain in her voice and eyes replaced by love and certainty, she assures him, "There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be."

Duke kisses her ever so gently. Then, with a crooked grin, "Let's see that bendy thing again?"

Anna beams at him and leans back in his arms, trusting him to hold her as she arches her back and lets her head fall toward the floor. Duke bends over her and kisses the skin bared by the plunging neckline of her robe, his lips just inches above her heart. They stand upright; Duke pulls her tightly to him and leads her sensuously through the steps of the tango again. They pass the window through which the lights of the city twinkle below them, and Duke backs her up against the abutting wall. They share a deep, lingering kiss. Then he draws back and once again kisses the hand he holds in his, as Anna moves her other hand from his shoulder to his chest. Duke releases her waist from his other arm and instead captures her wrist in his grasp. He stretches both her arms over her head and pins her against the wall. Catching up both wrists in one hand, he caresses the length of her inner arm with the other. "You have me at a disadvantage again already," Anna murmurs.

"I promised you, didn't I? Just follow my lead—like dancing," he tells her with a wicked smirk. He leans against her, pressing her body against the wall, and kisses her insistently once more. Anna's moan fills his mouth; he takes that as his cue to kiss her neck. He pulls at the sash of her robe, loosing the knot, and, freeing her wrists, slips both hands beneath the robe to encircle her waist. She wraps her arms tightly around his neck and then, as he lifts her off the floor, wraps her legs around his waist. Another kiss, and they rock together to the tango music that plays on: ONE, two, THREE, four. ONE, two, THREE, four….


End file.
